What Don't They Understand

Early in the summer I started a conversation with the Chief of Police in my town. He told me it wasn't allowed. I did my home work and found the State of Missouri had stripped towns of the ability to override state firearms laws. I contacted the Missouri AG office and got their opinion on this issue. I don't know why they can't give an official interpretation, I mean it's a law isn't it?

Dean, unfortunately we can't give an official interpretation, but can give you my personal understanding of the statutes. A court could still disagree.

The legislature preempts political subdivisions in the field of firearms. However, an exception to this is that the regulation of the discharge of firearms is left to the political subdivisions eg municipalities. City councils of third and fourth class cities are specifically required by statute to enact ordinances regulating the discharge of firearms within their borders.

Missouri Attorney General’s office

 

 

 

Missouri Revised Statute 21.750.2 says:

2. No county, city, town, village, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state shall adopt any order, ordinance or regulation concerning in any way the sale, purchase, purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping, possession, bearing, transportation, licensing, permit, registration, taxation other than sales and compensating use taxes or other controls on firearms, components, ammunition, and supplies except as provided in subsection 3 of this section.

Here's an article about the City Councils action on Monday September 24, 2012.

http://www.excelsiorspringsstandard.com/news/new-ordinance-prohibits-open-carry-of-firearms/

If you read the article, the police think its OK for their officers to make their own decision in this matter if they encounter anyone on their way to hunt or target shoot outside the city. So you're tooling down the road going to the range when you get stopped for say, going 3 mph over the speed limit. An officer comes to your vehicle and sees that you have either an open gun on your hip or just laying within reach. He decides that a wanton speeder such as you is up to something, so he arrests you for open carry of a firearm. Or maybe he remembers that you testified against him in his spousal abuse hearing. Or maybe , what ever.....
   So not only do they violate State law, they want the cops to to make case by case decisions on this law. Have we progressed back to 1950? The man with the badge makes the law?

I have spent the morning contacting, all my friends in town, my State Rep, my US rep. The Missouri AG office, the Gun Owners of America (GOA), the NRA, FOX 4 TV in Kansas City and finally Infowars.com. We'll see if I get any traction.

There are other statutes that pertain to section 21 and they deal with definitions, banning open carry in certain parks and preserves and other general stuff. No where does it give towns the ability to override State law. Missouri got rid of firearms pre-emption when concealed carry passed in this state.

We will see how this turns out.